[Quantitative assessment of wall motion in gated SPECT using the centerline method]

Evaluation of myocardial wall motion is an important assessment of heart function. Specific analysis programs in nuclear medicine, such as QGS (quantitative gated SPECT) analysis and p-FAST (perfusion-function assessment for myocardial SPECT), have been used to assess wall motion, but they have not evaluated it through a comparison of normal data. The centerline method, using left ventriculograms (LVG), evaluates regional wall motion quantitatively through a comparison of normal data and patient data, and abnormality of wall motion is expressed in units of standard deviation (SD) s from the mean motion in a reference population. However, angiography is an invasive inspection, wall motion analysis is usually in one direction, and the conventional centerline method is not a three-dimensional analysis. The purpose of this study was to apply the centerline method to nuclear medicine and examine the wall motion of subjects through a comparison of normal wall motion non-invasively and in a three-dimensional way. We arranged the analysis program using C language and inspected it using a dynamic cardiac phantom and computed tomography (CT) scanner. We made a polar map that indicated the mean and SD of normal wall motion. Our proposed method was able to assess the wall motion of subjects quantitatively through a comparison of normal wall motion in nuclear medicine.